In Richmond court, Moussaoui lawyers argue for new trial

Richmond Times Dispatch ^ | 9/26/09 | Frank Green

[HokieMom]

Lawyers for convicted Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui were back in a federal appeals court yesterday trying to win a new trial.

They argued that Moussaoui's 2005 guilty plea to six terrorism-conspiracy counts was invalid because his trial lawyers could not yet tell him about classified evidence in possession of the government that supported a claim of innocence.

The case, argued before the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Court of Appeals this year, was re-argued yesterday because of the retirement of Judge Karen Williams, one of three judges who first heard the case and who left before it could be decided.

"This is a very important case about the right to counsel," argued Justin S. Antonipillai, a lawyer for Moussaoui.

Antonipillai said the inability of Moussaoui's trial lawyers to discuss certain classified material with him before he pleaded guilty -- over their objections -- was an improper interference in communication between lawyers and their client.

"That is a very dangerous thing . . . that is unconstitutional," he argued.

Moussaoui's trial lawyers could not yet tell him that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, told authorities that Moussaoui was not involved -- he was training for a second wave of attacks that never happened.